


A New Life

by samiam17



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Florida, Marriage, Step-siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4587660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samiam17/pseuds/samiam17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mary Margaret Swan gets remarried to David Nolan a few things happen to Emma Swan.</p><p>1: She has to move halfway across the country (from her cute little town in Maine all the way to sweltering Florida)<br/>2: She becomes a part of a whole new family (it was always just her and her mom, but now she has a stepfather too. And a stepbrother, Will Scarlet, who David had taken in when Will was very young).<br/>3: She meets her new stepbrother’s best friend, Killian Jones (who happens to be Emma’s dream boy)</p><p>What will this new life hold for Emma Swan?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Family

Of all the things Emma Swan had to say about the wedding, the nicest one would be something along the lines of ‘the trees looked nice’.

And they did. Of course they did. For Mary Margaret and David’s wedding, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and they sprouted along on both sides of the outdoor venue. The weather was nice too. It wasn’t too hot. It wasn’t too cold. The wind was a pleasant breeze rather than a howling mess. However, in Emma’s mind, this amazing scene was a complete misrepresentation of what was going on truly at that very moment.

She was standing with the other bridesmaids on one end of the alter wearing a horrible lilac dress that was so itchy it caused her to twitch around like a maniac to try to get comfortable. The shoes she was wearing were probably the equivalent of stuffing her feet into a skinny vase they were so tight. On top of it all her hair was pulled into a tight up-do that was giving her a headache and she figured she was allergic to the flowers in the bouquet she was holding- she had sneezed so many times already.

Although, through it all, she did have to admit that her mother looked gorgeous. Her short dark hair was laced with flowers and her white dress fit her body perfectly and had ruffles at the bottom and a beautiful long train. Her smile was the real showstopper of the ensemble, though. Emma could see that her mother was genuinely happy… which was the only reason Emma was letting her go through with this.

See, Emma’s mother was marrying David Nolan. David was a handsome bachelor who took his vacations up in Storybrooke, Maine- the small coastal town where Emma and her mother lived.

Long story short they met, started going out about a year ago, and now here they were at the alter, saying their vows. Apparently it was ‘love at first sight’, according to Mary Margaret.

So now, Emma was going to have a new stepfather, David, once the wedding was over. The thought of it made her shudder. It had always just been Emma and her mother, taking on the world. The two of them always had each other’s backs. Mary Margaret didn’t need a man. Emma didn’t need a father. But now it seemed that Mary Margaret had changed her mind, and Emma was being dragged along into it.

She looked across the alter to the groomsmen in matching tuxes and dared a glance at the youngest one. Will Scarlet was seventeen, the same age as Emma, and he was to be Emma’s new stepbrother. Emma didn’t know much about the details, but David had taken Will in when the kid was about eight or nine after something happened to his parents. Will lived with David so it looked like Emma was to live with him too. A stepfather she could deal with, but a stepbrother? Absolutely not. She had no interest in living with a sweaty, gross, teenage boy.

On top of it all, Emma would be forced to say goodbye to her perfect little home in Maine and travel all the way down to Miami, Florida to live with David. Goodbye friends, goodbye school, goodbye winter, goodbye her entire social life. Moving to a whole new school on the other side of the country in the middle of junior year? Impossible. Her mother wouldn’t make her, right?

Oh, no. Her mother insisted that it was an adventure. That Emma would absolutely love living in Florida. That she would make new friends and do new things and have an awesome new life! Well… Emma wasn’t so sure that she wanted a ‘new’ anything. She loved her life as it was in Storybrooke. She loved her house on the water so she could wake up in the morning and see the ocean. She loved playing on the soccer team at school- she would have to give up her captain position when she moved. She loved hanging out with her friends at the cafe and the mall. She didn’t want this ‘new life’ she wanted things to stay the way they were.

“Do you, David Nolan, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” the preacher spoke, shaking Emma out of her thoughts.

“I do.” David smiled as he held Mary Margaret’s hands.

“And do you, Mary Margaret Swan, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.” Mary Margaret swooned.

Emma’s shoulders slumped at the words. Her breathing became labored and her heart beat raced as she anticipated the finality of what was to come next.

The preacher opened his mouth and looked out into the rows of people in the audience sitting on white plastic chairs, “Then it is my pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

The kiss was magical. Everyone watching clapped and cheered. The happy couple looked even happier than they were before.

Although Emma just stood there holding her sneezy flowers in her itchy dress, staring at her mother and the man who was now her official stepfather in disbelief.

Her fate was sealed.


	2. A New House

Emma’s favorite song blasted through her earbuds as her mother’s Toyota cruised through the streets of Miami. Even from inside the car, Emma was regretting wearing skinny jeans. The heat was so intense she could see it radiating off of cars and other reflective surfaces. Now Emma was certain she had sweat stains all over her t-shirt- how did the people who lived in Florida deal with it?

Emma and Mary Margaret were making this incredibly long journey from Maine to Florida in three days and they spent two nights in hotels. Emma wondered why they couldn’t just get plane tickets, but her mother insisted that she had some valuable things which she would pack in the trunk that she didn’t trust the movers with.

A three-day journey would be completely daunting in anyone’s mind. If she was being honest, though, she was happy that she would be prolonging her time without a new stepfamily. So Emma hadn’t complained once every time they were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or Mary Margaret got off the wrong highway exit and had to start all over again.

However, the Swans were now in Miami and Emma knew that it would be any minute now that they arrived in David’s driveway.

“Take out those earbuds, Emma.” her mother scolded from the driver’s seat, “You’re missing all the beautiful art deco architecture.”

For the sake of not creating an argument, Emma didn’t mention that she could see the architecture just fine when she listened to music. It wasn’t like the earbuds were blocking her eyes! But she did as she was told and focused on the wold outside.

She had to admit that the scenery was pretty cool. The art deco buildings were so brightly colored and had strong curves. There were palm trees in rows lining roads and reaching up into the bright blue sky. There were small little parks that housed exercise equipment. Sometimes from certain angles she could see hints of white sand beaches and calm iridescent waters. Storybrooke was a coastal town. The beaches there were formed with rocks and choppy dark waves. These ones in Miami were completely different.

After a few more minutes of driving around, Emma’s stomach plummeted as her mother slowed the car down to a stop in front of a house… one that Emma feared she would be living in now.

David Nolan’s house was nice. It was one story, like most of the houses in Florida, and wide. There were Spanish tiles covering the tangerine-colored roof and the walls of the house were painted a teal color. The grass was a little dried out, but freshly cut and the second that Emma stepped out onto the driveway, she saw six tiny lizards run away from her feet. She was hit with a wall of heat that ripped the breath from her lungs and her eyes were practically blinded by the light. This was Emma’s first time out of the New England area. She wasn’t used to this kind of weather at all.

“Hello!” came David’s cheery voice from the front porch of the house. He was wearing a light colored t-shirt, kaki shorts, and a pair of sunglasses rather than the tux he had worn to the wedding.

Emma groaned to herself as Mary Margaret literally squealed and ran up to David. Having seen enough of them kissing at the wedding, Emma adverted her eyes and reached back into the car to pull out her backpack she had stuffed with the things she wanted for the car trip. It pretty much consisted of books and her laptop. She had finished two on the ride, Pride and Prejudice and one of her favorite Sarah Dessen books. It made for a practically silent road trip aside from Mary Margaret’s feeble attempts to make conversation when Emma just wasn’t in the mood for talking.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder and slowly walked down the short driveway to the main door, hoping that David had air conditioning. Very, very cold air conditioning. The newlywed couple had finally broken apart and were holding hands as Emma reached the door.

“Hi, Emma,” David smiled at her when she arrived, “How was the trip?”

She closed her eyes for a second and took a quick deep breath to calm herself. No matter how mad she was on the inside, she knew that she couldn’t mess this up for her mom. Mary Margaret had never looked happier until she met David, “Fine.” she said, avoiding looking at the man who Emma still considered to be a total stranger.

“Okay then,” he continued, “So why don’t we all head inside. I can’t wait for you guys to see your new home.”

Mary Margaret just about beamed, “We can’t wait!”

“Yeah, whatever.” Emma mumbled. She hiked her backpack higher on her shoulder. She pulled her t-shirt out in front of her to avoid sweat stains as she followed her mother and stepdad up a single stair and in through the main door.

The blast of air conditioning was the first thing that Emma noticed and it made her smile, even just for a second for it to be a tad bit cooler inside the house. Then, she scanned the building that was her new home. It seemed like the front door lead right into the living room. It was large with a couple sofas and a TV on top of carpet. There was a shelf filled with books and random little antiques.

“So this is the living room,” David started, gesturing to the place, “I know what you’re thinking- those two sofas don’t match, but I have never been one to know what matches and what doesn’t.”

David couldn’t have been more right on that. One couch was orange with a white stitched swirl design and the other was a striped blue, green, and brown pattern. His lack of matching sense also applied to his clothing. Emma took in the one green sock and one black sock he was wearing with a scrunched nose.

Emma thought for sure her mother would have been disgusted too about the sofa situation- she always had an eye for style, but to Emma’s surprise Mary Margaret laughed with delight, “It’s so cute!”

Emma could’ve gagged.

And the lovey-dovey stuff didn’t stop there either. Mary Margaret thought the kitchen was “absolutely adorable, just like you, David!”. Then the dining room they started kissing and Emma had to avert her eyes.

Then she heard the front door open again and some voices enter in through the living room. This made Emma ecstatic at first because it meant she wouldn’t have to be alone with the lovebirds, until she realized who it would have been.

Will Scarlet entered the kitchen first. He was glistening in sweat and wearing a Taylor High School teal and white soccer uniform except for he had bare feet instead of cleats. A soccer ball bounced from knee to knee effortlessly as he walked, heading straight for the kitchen.

He was calling back to the other person he had come in with, who was still unseen in the living room, “What do you want to eat, Kill? We’ve got a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Coach would murder us, but what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.” He had his back to the rest of the family as he riffled through some cabinets, pulling out a box of donuts.

“Ahem.” David cleared his throat to get his adopted son’s attention, “Will, Mary Margaret and Emma are here.”

The soccer ball immediately fell to the floor with an audible thwump. Will turned around slowly to face his new family. Emma wondered if she had looked like this when she had arrived at the new house, because Will looked like he had been shot when he saw his new stepmother and stepsister. He was frozen.

Just then the voice from the other room drew closer, “What’s going on, Will?” it sounded in a deep tone.

The second he stepped into Emma’s line of vision, she felt something spark. This boy was like none other Emma had seen back in Maine. He was wearing the same soccer uniform as Will was and he had some serious biceps. His coal black hair fell into his face, framing bright blue eyes that Emma swore sparkled. He had full lips and a confused expression… and he was looking straight at her!

Emma blinked quickly and stared at the floor. Stop this, she told herself, You have a boyfriend. Neal Cassidy was her boyfriend in Maine. They were working on a long distance relationship. Emma couldn’t be distracted by other people, that wouldn’t be fair to him.

Will took a deep breath, “My new stepmother and stepsister are here.” said with significance to his friend.

The dark haired boy blinked, “She’s your stepsister?” he gave Emma a quick smile which made her cheeks flush red, “But I thought you said-“

“What I said?” Will quickly jumped in, looking guiltily at his father who seemed angry, “Ha- Kill. I didn’t say anything.” David crossed his arms and Will’s eyes darted around the room for an escape, landing on Emma. “Hey, I don’t think you’ve seen your room yet. Me and Kill can show it to you.” Will’s friend nodded in agreement.

Alone with the hot guy? Emma didn’t think so. She was about to decline when her mother jumped in with an overly perky: “Sounds great! I’m sure Emma will love, love, love her new room.”

The two boys bit their lips to keep from snickering and Will, who still had the box of donuts, was leading the way towards a hallway to the right. His beloved soccer ball he dribbled in front of him. Were soccer balls allowed inside David’s house? That would probably be the only positive to living here. Emma had already spoke to the school about joining the girls’ soccer team in the middle of the season and the principal, after going over Emma’s stellar stats immediately let her join varsity. She couldn’t wait to get back on the soccer field. The rules of soccer didn’t change from state to state. It would be nice to do something that she loved that would stay the same.

Emma’s thoughts were interrupted when Will’s good-looking friend started talking as they continued to Emma’s new bedroom, “I’m Killian, by the way. Killian Jones.” he grinned that quirky smile again.

Emma coughed, “I’m Emma Swan.”

“I know,” Killian laughed, “Will told me a lot about you… of course I don’t think any of it is true at all, unless you concealing your foot-long nose somehow.”

She touched her nose on instinct to make sure it was still normal size. This was not exactly how she imagined her first conversation with the cute boy going. She was crashing and burning- not that it mattered at all, of course, Emma had a boyfriend. She had a boyfriend. And she needed to repeat that over and over so that she could remind herself of that.

“Ignore him,” Will smirked from in front of them, “I didn’t say anything like that at all. Not in the slightest- okay maybe I did, but I was angry. Sorry. Anyways, this here is your room and mine is next door.”

She had to sleep next door to Will? The boy who said mean things about her behind her back and admitted to them to her face? Living with him at all was enough misfortune. This day was just getting worse and worse.

“I think you’ll like the room.” Killian said behind her, “I helped paint it.”

Emma forced a small smile at him, “Thanks.”

“Yeah we helped paint it.” Will corrected, “And I will have you know that Dad heard your favorite color was blue so just to warn you it’s, um, extremely blue. I think you probably already understand his lack of interior decorating skills from just looking at the living room.”

“Okay…” Emma put her hand on the silver door handle and opened up the room that was to be hers now.

The first thing she realized was that Will was certainly right about the whole ‘blue’ theme. The walls were a light blue color, the carpet was a dark blue, and the ceiling fan was a greenish-blue. The room wasn’t very big. It just housed a bed in one corner (blue blankets, of course), an empty bookshelf on the opposite corner, and a dresser and closet near the bed. This looked absolutely nothing like her room at home where she had stuck glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and she had her favorite quilt on her bed.

Emma had been channeling all of her energy into anger ever since the engagement, but now that she saw where she would be living, all she felt was sadness. She didn’t like it in Miami. She knew she never would. Maybe her mother was happy, but Emma was most certainly not happy. This wasn’t her choice. She wanted to finish her high school career where she had been with her fiends in Maine. Everything was wrong here. The rooms, the weather, and the people were not how she wanted it. Her life had been turned upside down and all Emma wanted to do was search for a way to bring it back up again.

Will and Killian must have seen the look on her face so they mumbled something about eating donuts and disappeared into Will’s room next door.

All Emma hoped was that they wouldn’t be able to hear her crying on her completely wrong bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for such nice feedback on my first chapter! I'm so excited for the great response I got on the story. I hope you all liked chapter two and please comment, leave kudos, or bookmark if you did.
> 
> You guys are awesome! I'll be back with chapter three soon.
> 
> -Sam


	3. A New School

Emma decided to stay in her room when the rest of her ‘family’ was eating dinner, feigning to her mom that she felt sick from the long drive. There was a bit of truth in that, though. Emma had felt extremely tired and she just didn’t want to deal with all these new changes anymore. She didn’t want to eat with two people she didn’t even know that she now had to be living with and pretending they were her father and brother.

So after sending a quick good night text to Neal, Emma decided to turn in for bed at 7:30 PM. She didn’t want to risk her mom coming in to talk to her about the situation, much less David. Luckily, she was so exhausted from trying to wrap her head around this entirely new life that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit her blue pillow. Dreams came quickly of her perfect life back in Maine. Her soccer team, her boyfriend, her school…

And then suddenly, it seemed, she was being shaken awake by her mother.

“Rise and shine, sweetie!” Mary Margaret cooed, “It’s Monday and that means you’re going on your first day at your new school! Oh how exciting!”

Emma groaned and rolled onto her side. School. Something she was absolutely not looking forward to. She had whole new classes and new teachers and students that she didn’t know that she was going to have to be friends with. Back in Storybrooke, the town was so small that Emma went from preschool to high school all with the exact same group of kids. She knew every single person in her grade and they all had been friends since even before they started school so there had never been any pressure on Emma to make an effort to be friendly. She wasn’t sure she knew exactly how to make friends in the first place.

“David made some breakfast and it smells really good. You know, he’s quite the cook.” her mother praised, “So why don’t you get dressed and you can get started on the day!”

“Okay, mom. I’m up.” Emma insisted, pushing off the covers just to show Mary Margaret that she would start getting ready.

Her mom smiled, “Good.” then she looked a little concerned, “Are you feeling better from yesterday? We missed you at dinner.”

Emma could’ve laughed. She had her mom completely convinced. She probably could even convince Mary Margaret that she was too sick to go to school… but that seemed a little too cruel, “I’m feeling a lot better now, mom.” she decided to say with a quick grin.

“Alright, well I’ll see you at breakfast!” Mary Margaret slid off the bed, “I’m so excited for your first day!” and with that she left Emma’s room and walked to the doorframe, “And sweetie, thank you for being so nice about all of this. I promise that everything will be just great!” And with that, Emma’s mom disappeared out into the hallway.

Emma seriously doubted her mother’s statement, but she wasn’t in the mood to argue.   
She wanted to stay in bed, but one look at the clock told her that she didn’t have time for that luxury, unless she wanted to show up to school in pajamas. If she didn’t start getting ready quickly, she would be late!

Emma pushed herself up out of her bed, cracking her back in the process and she grabbed her phone from its charger to text Neal.

EMMA: Morning, babe.

Neal responded quickly.

NEAL: Hey there, girl :) kind of busy right now, but I’ll text you later, okay? There’s something I need to talk to you about.

Emma raised an eyebrow at Neal’s mysterious message, but she didn’t have a moment to reply because suddenly she was hit in the face with a flash of teal and kaki.

“Your uniform.” came Will’s voice from outside the room.

She felt the new clothes fall off of her as she glared at the unwanted interruption who she now had to call her stepbrother, “Excuse me?” she snapped.

Will was standing in her doorway, bouncing his soccer ball from knee to knee again and smirking at her. “Taylor High School wears uniforms, and yes, I hate them too. But they aren’t so bad and you get used to them.”

Uniforms?, Emma stared at the heap of clothing in her arms in disbelief. There was another downside to all of this. She never had to wear uniforms at her old school.

Will was wearing his right then. A teal collared shirt with kaki pants paired with a brown belt. The shirt had an emblem that read Taylor High School on it in dark blue stitching. Emma frowned. It wasn’t the best school uniform, but it certainly wasn’t the worst that she would have to wear.

She sorted through the pile of clothes that Will had thrown to her. There were two teal colored shirts like Will’s, a white blouse with a Taylor High School logo, a pair of kaki pants, a kaki skirt, kaki shorts, and a cardigan with teal stripes on the shoulders.

“I’d suggest that you wear the shorts or skirt, though.” Will said, “Because if you’re from Maine- you can’t handle the Florida heat.”

“Okay. Fine.” she said, vexed, “But can you just get out of my…” Emma stopped when she realized that Will wasn’t even at her door anymore. She kept forgetting that he probably hated this situation as much as she did.

She did decide to take his advice though, opting for the kaki skirt and teal collared shirt when she chose what she would wear for her first day. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail to complete the look and started out into the kitchen where she smelled something really good cooking (as much as she hated to admit that something was ‘good’ around here).

“Scrambled eggs with ham mixed in with a blueberry bagel on the side.” David announced with pride as he handed her a plate of breakfast. The kitchen was a buzz of activity as Will proceeded to eat his breakfast while kicking around a soccer ball and Mary Margaret was talking on the phone to her new boss (she was going to be starting to work at a nearby nursing home next week). David was making a racket trying to clean dishes and all that Emma wanted was nice peace and quiet. Back at home in Maine everything was calm and relaxed- this was crazy. She needed to escape.

But as soon as she thought the tantalizing thought, she realized that she couldn’t leave. This was her reality from now on. There was no going back to Maine or back to the way things were before. As she sat at the dining room table, slowly chewing her eggs, she felt so foreign inside the house.

The sound of a doorbell reverberated through the house when Emma got up to put her empty dish in the sink. Before she could even wonder who could be at the door, Will jumped up yelling, “I’ll get it- it’s Killian!”

Emma’s head jolted up. Killian? As in the mega cute boy she had met yesterday?

Yes, yes it was. He strolled in the house behind Will like he lived there too wearing an identical Taylor High School uniform to Will’s and grabbing the blueberry bagel that David handed out to him.

“How’s it going, Killian?” Emma’s stepfather asked him, “How’s business?”

“Really good, actually.” Killian grinned, “We’re offering a big special this weekend if you’re interested in lobster.”

David patted the younger boy on the back, “You know I’m always interested in lobster.”

Emma raised an eyebrow at the confusing conversation, but luckily she didn’t have to ask what was going on because Mary Margaret did for her. “What about lobster?” she was quickly at her husband’s side after getting off the phone call.

“Killian’s parents own a seafood restaurant that Will and I like to go to a lot.” David explained.

Mary Margaret was delighted, “That sounds amazing! Maybe we could all go there together, as a family.”

There it was- the ‘family’ word that Mary Margaret had been using in practically every other sentence she spoke since she and Emma had arrived. Emma glanced at David and then Will, both of whom she knew nothing about, so she wasn’t exactly interested in having them become her ‘family’. Not now, not ever. They were the ones who ruined her real family which was always herself and her mom.

Of course, David was on her mom’s side, “Sure!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds really fun.” Will glared at Killian for bringing the subject up in the first place and out of the rest of them, Emma was positive that only she could tell Will’s voice was tinged with sarcasm.

“But we have to go.” Killian added, “School starts soon.”

The two boys attempted a quick escape from the house until David crossed his arms saying, “Not so fast. I need you two to promise that you are going to keep Emma close during school hours and make sure that she gets to her classes alright, makes nice friends, and has somewhere to sit at lunch.”

Emma felt embarrassment in every inch of her body. Killian must have thought that she was some baby who didn’t know how to fend for herself in school. Even if she had a boyfriend back in Storybrooke, she still wanted to make a good impression on Will’s good-looking friend, “It’s alright, David,” she vocalized, “I can find my way around the school myself.”

Mary Margaret jumped in, “We know, sweetie, but it would be nice to have some people show you around and it would give you and Will an opportunity to bond.”

Bond? Emma glanced at her stepbrother, who she could see was reacting the same way as she to that statement. Emma didn’t need to bond, especially with an annoying boy who threw clothes at her. However, she wouldn’t mind bonding with Killian.

“So…?” David pressed.

Will looked to Killian who just shrugged so Will rolled his eyes and said, “Fine. I promise.”

Mary Margaret actually clapped, “This is so great! I can’t wait to hear about your special first day!”

“Okay, mom,” Emma was grabbing her backpack and hoisting it onto her shoulder, trying to seem excited to keep her mom happy “Bye!” she gave Mary Margaret a quick kiss on the cheek and left behind the two boys. Apparently Killian always drove Will to school so now Emma would be riding in his car as well. She wasn’t sure if she should be excited or nervous at that, although she figured that she shouldn’t be feeling anything anyways because she wasn’t single.

Killian’s car made Mary Margaret’s look like a clown car. It was clean, shiny, and black with leather seats and had no roof. It looked like Killian took very good care of it, and very great pride in it, “I call her the Jolly Roger.” he grinned as Emma admired it, “Isn’t she a beauty?”

She gulped at his close proximity to her. He smelled like the ocean, “Yes, it’s a nice car.” Emma really didn’t know much about cars aside from the movie, Cars, but she did appreciate that it looked cool.

“C’mon, Emma.” Will groaned from the passenger seat, “Hop in, we need to get going.”

Emma was about to open the backseat door when Killian slid in front of her, “Allow me.” he said with a wink as he first took her backpack and then opened the door for her.

She wasn’t used this over the top chivalry, but Emma said “thank you” and stepped into the car anyways. The drive wasn’t long, and while at first Emma was worried if Killian was going to speed or not, she shortly realized there was nothing to be preoccupied about as he was a great driver. Neal was an alright driver, but he tended to lean towards the fast side, often getting pulled over for speeding tickets in their sleepy town.

When Killian pulled in to his parking spot at the front of the school, Emma was in awe.

The building was massive. It must have had at least five floors and it was even wider than it was tall. Palm trees flanked the sides of the entrance to the building along with brightly colored tropical flowers. The school grounds appeared vast and they housed tennis courts, outdoor basketball courts, a football field, and a track. But what Emma was really excited about was the large soccer field that she could see to her far right. Emma couldn’t wait to get back into her favorite game, she just hoped she wasn’t rusty.

The three students got out of Killian’s car and started making their way towards the main doors. Emma passed by so many students on her way in. Some were studying, or on their phones, or just chatting together. She felt a lot of eyes on her. She was the new student and she wondered if she could make friends with these people.

“First stop: the guidance office to get your schedule.” Will announced as they were inside the lobby. The interior of Taylor High School was just as beautiful as the outside. The color of the walls matched the color on Emma’s uniform t-shirt and there were so many windows looking out onto the campus and letting in natural light.

As she half-jogged to catch up with them (those two walked fast!) Emma tried once more, “It’s really okay, guys, I don’t need people to show me around.” She didn’t need anyone. She practically considered herself alone now that her mom was so absorbed with David, so why not just be rid of the two people who were only looking out for her out of obligation?

Killian smiled genuinely at her over his shoulder, “Will here might only be doing this because he promised his dad, but I always want to help pretty girls.”

Words caught in Emma’s throat. Was Killian flirting with her?

Emma didn’t really have time to sort out what was going on between her and Killian as they had just arrived at the guidance office, a smaller room off the main hallway where a man sat at a desk behind a nameplate that read ‘Mr. Hopper’. He looked like a genuine geek with tufts of light brown hair and wide-framed glasses that made his eyes look as wide as a deer’s.

“Hi, Will. Hi, Killian.” Mr. Hopper acknowledged happily, “And this must be our new student, Emma Swan.” he waved over at Emma enthusiastically.

Emma shuffled her feet, “Um, hello…”

“We’re here for her schedule.” Killian came to Emma’s rescue again.

“Oh, right,” Mr. Hopper fumbled through a few drawers, resurfacing with a freshly printed sheet of white paper, “Here you go!”

Emma took the paper and scanned it over. First period was homeroom, then she had American History honors, then she had AP Language followed by Pre-Calc honors, Spanish honors, and AP Chemistry. She hadn’t noticed the boys had been looking over her shoulder until she heard Will groan, “We have practically all the same classes.”

“Same!” Killian exclaimed, a little more excited than Will at that fact which made Emma’s stomach flutter. He’s happy we have a lot of the same classes? Am I happy we have a lot of the same classes? She found herself repeating over and over again: I have a boyfriend, I have a boyfriend, Killian means nothing to me, I have a boyfriend.

Once she composed herself she shrugged, choosing to say: “Cool.”

Because even though Emma’s heart jumped whenever she heard his name and even though she had so quickly felt something for him, she knew it wasn’t right to like him as anything more than a possible friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I have gotten such kind words from you guys and I'm just ecstatic that people are enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it!  
> Chapter four will be coming your way soon :)  
> -Sam


	4. A New Friend

After homeroom was over, Emma headed with Will and Killian all the way across the school to their next class, American History. They immediately told her to sit at the desk next to a girl named Elsa Arendelle who was one of their friends.

“She’s an amazing soccer player too- the captain of the girl’s team.” Will said with a different look in his eyes, “And she’s like super smart and she’s actually royalty in Sweden.”

“Wow, okay…” Emma raised an eyebrow at Will’s interest in this girl.

Killian pointed her out to her the second she walked into the classroom, but Emma figured she could’ve picked out this Elsa girl just from her stepbrother’s quick description. She sat up completely straight in her chair in the second row of the classroom. Her hair, a lighter blonde than Emma’s own, was pulled into an effortless french braid that trailed all the way down her back. She opted for the white blouse and shorts uniform combo and her shoes were ice blue Nike sneakers. Elsa gave off an air of importance and individuality worthy of a royal as well.

“Hey, Elsa,” Killian greeted when the three approached, “This is Emma Swan, Will’s new stepsister.”

Emma felt like a mess compared to Elsa’s impeccable nature and she worried that she wouldn’t be a worthy friend for such a person, but much to her surprise Elsa smiled and motioned for her to sit down in the desk next to her own, “I’m Elsa.” she smiled, “I heard you are pretty good at soccer.”

“Um, I guess, yeah.” Emma stumbled, “I mean, I like soccer.” she could’ve face palmed.

Elsa nodded, “Cool. Coach showed me your stats- I think you and I together are going to bring our team to victory!” she seemed so determined, “And I’ve been waiting to finally have a friend who’s a girl.” she laughed, “Hanging out with these two nitwits can be exhausting.”

Killian and Will pretended that their hearts were shattering. “Hurtful!” Killian whined.

Elsa just rolled her eyes with a ‘see what I have to deal with’ look to Emma, “Well anyways, I hear you’re from Maine, huh?”

“Yeah,” Emma gained confidence from talking about her real home, “Storybrooke, Maine. It’s the best town ever and it’s doesn’t feel like you’re going to melt every time you go outside there.”

“I know how you feel.” the other girl confessed, “When I moved from Sweden it was the strangest transition ever. I’m sure you must miss it.”

“More than anything.” Emma sighed, settling into her desk and taking out a purple notebook for notes, “Everything’s so different here.”

Elsa was very sympathetic, “It must be hard to have such a different life. At least when I came here I had my sister and my parents. I couldn’t imagine my family changing too on top of it all.”

She had nothing to worry about on making a friend at Taylor High School. Elsa and her had so much in common and they had most of their classes together as well. They spent the entire day chatting and laughing together and Will and Killian were always close by. Killian kept on smiling and talking to her too.

He was really surprising her, both the boys were actually. From the second Will and Killian walked through her door and she had seen them in their soccer uniforms, she had pegged them for dumb jocks. But she was totally wrong. They both kept up with her in all the honors and advanced placement classes. It seemed like Killian got every answer right in chemistry and Will led the entire class conversations in history. Elsa, of course, seemed like she shone in all subjects. To Emma, she seemed all around perfect.

At lunch, the four of them sat at a round table to eat which was located outside the building in the sun. Everyone else loved the heat so Emma went along with it all, but she was already feeling incredibly sticky with sweat in her uniform.

Although it was nice to meet Elsa and it was an adventure to do secretive flirting with Killian, Emma still felt the same way about her new situation as she had this morning. She stood out from the rest of the Taylor High students like an apple in a sea of oranges. First and foremost, everyone had a tan. The kind of deep tan you get from spending every second of the day outside… or if you lived in Miami. Emma felt so pale that compared to the other kids, she was a vampire. Second, she was never on that same page as the rest of her classmates on the school subjects. For instance, she was way ahead in Spanish, but she was so behind in pre-calc and chemistry that she had no idea what was going on. She had been acing both of those classes back in Maine and now she looked like a total idiot who didn’t deserve to be put in advanced classes. Third, she still really didn't feel like she could open up to people at the new school. Elsa was nice, but what did she really know about her? Emma had no idea she had trust issues until she was thrown into the deep end living with new people. And there was so much tension around her and Will. He wanted nothing to do with her. He never made an effort to talk to her, really the only words he spoke to her were ones that he had to say like: “the girls’ bathroom is down the hall to the left.” Emma couldn’t blame him for it though, it’s not like she was trying to converse either and she wasn’t exactly interested in getting to know him anyway.

If Killian noticed any tension between them, he ignored it. He was always friendly and genial, “Hey, we should tell Emma about the Beach Bash.” he commented.

Emma raised an eyebrow, “Huh?” she bit into another forkful of her spaghetti lunch which David had made for her. He was actually quite the cook.

“The Beach Bash.” Elsa repeated as she re-braided her hair, “It’s something the school puts on every year to raise money. It’s kind of like a school dance except for everyone wears their bathing suits and it’s on the beach.”

There hadn’t been many parties in Storybrooke and so Emma didn’t have much experience in that department. She almost didn’t want to go. Making an effort to have fun seemed like a sort of defeat to her ‘I swear I’m not going to like it here’ attitude. Although, she kind of wanted to see Killian in a bathing suit… did that make her a bad person?

And now, unbeknownst to Will and Elsa across the table, Killian put one of his hands over her own saying quietly, “I’d love to see you there.”

Emma felt her pulse skyrocket, something she hadn’t felt since Neal and it made her feel so guilty that she slid her hand back into her lap with a casual, “Yeah, sure.” as she tried to ignore the wounded puppy look on Killian Jones’s face. She was already in love with another guy, Neal Cassidy, and she knew that what she felt with him wasn’t something that she could throw away so quickly by falling for someone who she had only met a day ago. Emma was determined to keep the long distance relationship working.

“Practice is going to be horrible with this heat.” Will leaned forward onto the table with an agitated expression, “I don’t want to be doing laps in this humidity.”

Elsa added in, “Yeah, you’re really going to have to push through it today, Maine girl. But if you need to sit out, just let me know.”

Emma nodded. She hadn’t even thought about that. She was already extremely hot now just sitting and eating in the sun, but what about running and kicking and working out at practice? Would she be able to handle it?

She would find out soon. After lunch a few more classes sped by and then Elsa was leading her to the girls’ locker room to get changed for practice.

“So we normally start practice with sprints and then we go on to passing drills.” Elsa was explaining as she pulled on a purple t-shirt, “Today we are going to work a lot on shooting, though, and we might do a little scrimmage. Are you up for that?”

Emma was actually in a good mood as she laced up her cleats, they had been a birthday present from Neal. She loved soccer, it was something she had done since she was a kid. The game was so entertaining and she loved all the strategy that had to do with it. “Got it.” she nodded.

“Cool.” Elsa picked up her soccer ball and while rhythmically bouncing it on her head she said, “Well let’s go.”

The soccer field looked even more beautiful when Emma jogged onto it herself. The grass was a bright green and the white paint on the field was fresh. Everything was perfect… aside from the extreme heat of course.

Emma swore it got at least ten degrees hotter outside.

“It’s just because the wind dropped.” Elsa explained, “Don’t worry, it’ll probably pick up again. This is the kind of weather here in Miami- it changes on the dime.”

She repeated Elsa’s reassuring words over and over to herself as she ran laps around the field with the rest of the girls. She was completely drenched in sweat after two laps and the entire team was starting to look at her funny as she huffed and dragged herself around the grass. Elsa tried keeping pace with her a few times and asking if she needed to take a break, but Emma wouldn’t have it. If she was going to be on this soccer team, she was going to have to prove it to everyone. Emma didn’t need to be babied, she just had to power through.

It also didn’t help that her attention was distracted because the boys’ soccer team was practicing close by in the grass. Killian was running around, kicking, and handling the ball flawlessly and (this part made Emma a little extra distracted) all without a shirt on.

Actually all the boys didn’t have shirts on, but it was Killian that Emma’s attention was drawn to. She didn’t know that he had abs under his school uniform shirt or such powerful biceps. Although, every time she consciously caught herself thinking of him, she felt about twenty times guiltier about it than before. She would have to text Neal especially long tonight to remind herself that she loved someone else.

Later during practice, the team was practicing passing to each other and that’s when Emma got the attention of her team. She kept the ball with her at all times, cleverly outmaneuvering even the best on the team- including Elsa who gave her a nod of approval.

It was in the middle of a particularly good move that time completely slowed down. Her eyes automatically searched for Killian as she got a better view of the boys’ team practicing, but this time she could see that he wasn’t just participating in his drills, but grabbing a drink and staring right at her. Their eyes met and Killian gave her a cute smile and a small wave… and that’s when everything went downhill.

First, she stumbled. Tripping over the black and white soccer ball immediately which would’ve been fine if Emma wasn’t already feeling lightheaded from the extreme heat. She felt dizzy as her head rolled around and her legs turned to jelly. Black spots quickly covered the peripheral of her vision as she realized she had lost power over her body and she was going down.

The one last thing she saw before the world went black was Killian’s eyes widening in horror as he started sprinting over to her.

***

“Oh my god, is she alright?”

“Should we call 911?”

“Everyone- give her some space. Emma, hey, can you hear me?”

Emma couldn’t see a thing. She wasn’t sure how long she had been out for, but at least now she could hear things. She couldn’t match a lot of voices to names, her brain still felt all foggy, but she could tell that the last one was Killian. Emma wanted to let him know that she could hear him, but she couldn’t figure out how to move her muscles.

“We need to get her some water, quickly.” Emma was sure that voice was Elsa’s. The royal sounded concerned.

Water, all of a sudden Emma felt the heat all around her, gathering in her chest, burning her face. She needed water.

“Hey, move it. Watch it. Let me through.” it was Will, Emma was almost positive, trying to make his way towards her, “Jeez, you leave practice for one minute to use the bathroom and suddenly someone’s passed out… wait, is that Emma?”

“Yes, she fainted during practice.” Elsa explained, “Will someone please get some water and the school nurse?!”

“Wait- she’s opening her eyes!” it was Killian, and Emma felt his hand wrap around her own limp, useless one. It sent fireworks up her arm as she started to make out the blurry blobs around her. It was pretty abstract through her vision, but she thought she could tell that Killian, Elsa, and Will were crouched right over her as the rest of both soccer teams looked on. Even through her confusion, Emma felt completely embarrassed.

She tried to talk, “Wa… wat…”

Killian’s hand around her’s tightened a little more, “Yes, love, water is on the way.”

“Hey, Emma, it’s Elsa.” her voice was gentle, “We’re so sorry this happened to you, are you feeling a bit better?”

“Mmhmm.” Emma muttered. She started to hoist herself up on shaky elbows. She was fine, right? She didn’t need anyone in this stupid new school.

“Woah,” that comment was from the Will-shaped blob to her right, “I don’t think you should try to get up so quick.”

If Emma could really talk right then, she would’ve told him that she didn’t need any help at all- especially from a stepbrother who ruined her nice life in Maine.

But it did seem like he was right in his statement, because when Emma started to sit up the black spots rushed back again, overlapping until they covered all of her vision once again. 

She didn’t even feel her head hit the soft grass.

***

When she woke up the second time, all she saw was blue. It was her room quickly coming into focus before her eyes.

“Dad, I told you,” she could hear Will insisting in a muffled tone through her closed door, “I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was in the bathroom!”

“It was still you’re responsibility to keep her safe.” David told his son.

Emma winced. None of this was Will’s fault. No matter how much she liked the idea of him being in trouble, it just seemed wrong. So she gathered up all her strength and called out a “Hello?” that she thought the people outside her room could hear.

David bounded in through the door in a second saying, “Oh thank god you’re alright!” Will stepped in after him, leaning on the doorframe to her room.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Emma said, flinching away from her stepfather who was trying to sit on the edge of her bed.

David nodded, “The heat here is pretty intense. I understand exactly why something like that could happen to you, especially since you’re so new to the area.” he paused, “How does you’re head feel?”

“A little sore,” she admitted, “But I’ll be fine.”

“Good, okay…” David tilted his head, “I’m thinking of what the doctors did when they tested Will for a concussion. How many fingers am I holding up?”

Emma told him that there were two fingers and that answer seemed to please him enough. She was told to follow his finger with her eyes and then he had her walk a few laps around her bedroom.

“Well, I think you’re fine.” David affirmed after all of that.

“Told you.” Will huffed from his lounge area.

David looked a little sheepish, “So I actually haven’t told your mom yet what happened…”

“Oh,” Emma had forgotten that her mom wasn’t present, which just made her angry because it made it seem like David was an adequate step-in if her mother wasn’t available.

“Yeah, she went out to get groceries a bit ago. She should be back any minute now.” her stepfather filled her in, “And since everything is fine…”

“Then there’s really no point in telling her.” Emma finished, “I know my mom and I figure she’d probably worry herself to death if she heard about this.”

David smiled, “Then we’re on the same page. So we don’t tell Mary Margaret about what happened- that goes for you too, Will.” His son rolled his eyes, but nodded, “Good. Well, I’m going to get started on some dinner. How does mac and cheese sound? Emma, you haven’t tried it yet, but it’s been Will’s favorite since he was a kid.”

“Alright.” Emma was already itching to go to her phone, to text Neal. The only thing that would make this humiliating situation any better would be talking to someone back at her real home. Her home without extreme heat, confusing classes, and a ridiculously hot guy who Emma just can’t seem to get away from.

“Hey, Emma.” Will said, hanging back for a second, “Killian was wondering if he could talk to you for a second to make sure you’re okay.”

Emma blinked. What did Killian want to see her for?

Against her better judgement, and due to convincing herself that he was just a worried friend Emma said, “Yeah. That’s fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for all the support you guys have given me on my chapters- sorry this one took so long to post.  
> Thanks! And remember to comment, leave kudos, and bookmark :)  
> -Sam


	5. A New Romance

Emma had fully gotten hold on her bearings by the time Killian knocked on her bedroom door a few minutes later. She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous about talking to him. Her stepfather and stepbrother were just rooms away and she knew her mom would be coming home any second so the two of them wouldn’t actually be alone. Although, she worried about the quick pace that things were changing between them. Things weren’t supposed to be changing at all, she had a boyfriend already so Killian was just to remain a friend.

But it doesn’t have to be that way…

Emma literally winced as the amazing thought went through her mind. Sure Killian would never have to know that she was with someone else… and Neal didn’t have to know either…

Woah there, Emma, absolutely not! the voice of reason in her head warned her, You can’t double date- it wouldn’t be fair to either of the boys.

Why couldn’t her life be easy and normal like everyone else’s? Emma was so confused. She wasn’t sure what was right and what was wrong. All she really wanted to do was go back to Storybrooke where things actually made sense in her life.

“Come in.” Emma called out to Killian. She was sitting on her bed with the ice pack that David had insisted she keep on her forehead. The second she had heard that Killian would be paying a visit she had hoisted her half-dizzy self off her bed and changed out of her dirty soccer uniform into a more flattering pair of ripped jean shorts and a spaghetti strap tank top. She had also sprayed some dry shampoo into her hair and pulled it into a messy high bun that she hoped Killian would like. But she actually wasn’t trying to get his attention, right? She had a boyfriend, but it didn’t hurt to look good for other guys too, right? Emma hoped that she could figure out her tangled love life soon, because this one was giving her a headache and she knew it wasn’t caused by falling on the soccer field.

On a last ditch effort to look nice in front of Killian, Emma tossed the ice pack onto the floor behind her bed where he wouldn’t be able to see it.

“Hello, Emma.” Killian greeted as he shut the door behind him, “You look a lot better.”

Yes! Score one- Emma! She gave him a smile, “Thanks.”

Killian looked a little worried, his eyebrows furrowed and he moved across the room to stand in front of Emma’s bed, “So are you feeling as good as you look?”

The way he said it, Emma knew for sure that this was an attempt at flirting with her. Killian just wouldn’t stop with that, huh? Emma didn’t really want him to either.

“Just a slight headache is all. I had to drink about fifty glasses of water to feel alright though.” Then, she decided to give in to the flirting game, “Well, you certainly look really good- so you must feel amazing.”

It was true. Killian had cleaned up as much as Emma had from soccer practice. He wore a pair of camouflage cargo shorts and a white t-shirt along with a leather woven bracelet. His hair was spiked up in the perfect angles and he looked and smelled like he had just jumped out of the shower. He blushed at her comment.

“I was thinking about your fall, and I’m afraid that I was the one who caused it.” he alleviated, “And I really wanted to apologize.”

“You really don’t need to apologize.” Emma told him, “I’m really fine.”

Killian raised an eyebrow, “Really?” he said doubtfully.

“Really.”

“Well how can I be sure?” he smirked as he sat on the edge of her bed. He took her hand in his own, “Can you feel this?” he quietly asked.

Emma’s heart leaped at the touch, “Yes.” she said tentatively.

“Good.” he shifted a little closer, putting his over hand on her waist, “Can you feel this?”

Oh my god, Emma’s breath was hard to find as he smiled at her, “Y-yes.” she fumbled, knowing there was something that she should be thinking right now. She knew there was some sort of caution going off in her mind, but one look into Killian’s eyes made her forget all of her worries.

He was moving closer to her, and every thought in Emma’s mind was gone as she felt herself leaning into him too.

“Can you feel this?”

There was practically no space between them and Emma was very well aware of that fact. She was also very aware of Killian letting go of her hand and reaching out to tilt her head. Emma was the one to close the millimeters of distance between them.

It was a brilliant moment when their lips met. Kissing Killian was like nothing that Emma had ever experienced before. She felt literal fireworks as she closed her eyes and wrapped her hands over his shoulders. She could hear her heart beating as her blood rushed through her veins. Killian's lips were soft against her own and the moment in itself felt ultimately magical.

Of course, it was just a moment, and although on one level it seemed like the kiss went on forever, but on another level it was over way too quickly.

When they parted, Killian grinned at her, taking both of her hands in his own. Emma quietly gasped for air, still stunned from that amazing moment. 

“So I was thinking about that Beach Bash.” he started.

“Oh yeah?” Emma fluttered her eyelashes.

“Yes,” he grinned, “And I was wondering if you would be my date.”

The first thing Emma thought was yes, yes yes! but then the real world flew back at her- slapping her in the face like whiplash. She had a boyfriend. She had Neal. And Neal was great- he had been by her side for so long. Both of them really wanted to make this long distance thing work, going after this one guy, who Emma only had chemistry with- not history- would ruin all that they had worked towards. She could tell that she had something with Killian, and she could feel it in the air when he was around, but she needed to start thinking with her head rather than her heart. Neal and her had a future and she didn’t even really know Killian, she only knew how he made her feel.

And now she had to break his heart, and her own, at the same time.

“Killian?” she looked down at her feet dangling off her bed in embarrassment, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

His face fell, “Why not?” he took her hand, sending electricity up her arm at the touch, “I know we just met, but we don’t have to take things super fast at first. I promise you that I’m a good guy and I only want the best for you.”

One look into his bright blue eyes and Emma could see that he was sincere. Emma wanted to hang onto those words, but she knew in her heart it wouldn’t be fair to lie to Killian if she was already in a committed relationship.

“I’m…” she started, suddenly unable to find her voice, “Killian, I’m seeing somebody.”

“What?” he immediately took back his hand, “What do you mean?”

Emma was on the verge of tears, but she couldn’t let it show. She couldn’t let anyone see how this move and all this ‘new’ was really affecting her. She was supposed to be strong. She could at least pretend she was strong until Killian left her room, right?

“I mean that I have a long distance relationship that I’m very committed to with by boyfriend who still lives in Maine.” she told him in one breath.

Killian immediately jumped off her bed, “Are you kidding me!?”

“Killian- I can explain.”

“No you can’t.” he shook his head, “You led me on. I had no idea and you let me kiss you.”

It was getting harder to hold back the tears, “But-“

“I can’t believe you.” he stormed to the door, “I’ll see you around Emma Swan.”

***

It was the second day in a row that Emma took dinner in her room. She twirled her fork in her bowl of homemade mac and cheese that looked and smelled really good, but every bite she took tested bland which she knew wasn’t because of the lack of flavor. Eventually, she gave up on eating it altogether, placing her meal on the side table. She checked her cell phone for about the sixtieth time, yet she still saw no answer to her multiple texts to Neal. She had texted him right when the tears started flowing after Killian Jones had left her bedroom in an angry fury. It got to the point where Will, who was doing homework in his room next to hers, knocked on the wall that they shared asking if she was okay. 

She wondered what was taking Neal so long, she really needed to talk to him.

However, she did have Elsa. And she didn’t know anything about what happened with Killian which made her the perfect distraction as she had tried to stifle her sobs. They texted back and forth for quite a bit, mostly about Emma’s fainting spells. Elsa too blamed herself for what happened, wishing she had insisted Emma sit out when it started getting pretty hot, but Emma assured her it was no one’s fault but her own. Eventually, their conversation took a turn that Emma hadn’t expected.

ELSA: So you’re living with Will now…

EMMA: Yeah, unfortunately.

ELSA: I wonder- has he said anything about me?

Emma blinked. Elsa was interested in her stepbrother? She had seen Will throughout the school day talking with her and then of course their was his very complimentary introduction of Elsa for Emma. She had written it off as Will having unrequited feelings for Elsa. Will seemed pretty popular at Taylor High School, but Emma thought that Elsa was untouchable- undateable. She wasn’t sure what to tell her new friend, though. What if she was reading the situation all wrong? Her recent encounter with love hadn’t gone to great.

EMMA: I really haven’t talked to him much, sorry.

ELSA: That’s fine! No don’t worry about it- and don’t tell him I said anything about that either.

EMMA: Sure.

ELSA: But… maybe you could put in a good word for me? Like mention me a few times in passing? Is that too much to ask?

EMMA: No problem- I will do it.

ELSA: Great, thanks so much! But don’t breathe a word about this to anyone else. Ah! Gtg- dinnertime. Bye!

EMMA: See ya.

She had put her phone down feeling very surprised. Why would anyone be interested in her annoying stepbrother?

It wasn’t long after she stopped texting Elsa that Neal finally responded, but with a phone call instead of a text. She picked up instantly.

“Neal!” Emma breathed into the phone with delight. She just really needed to hear his voice, “I’m so glad I can talk to you. Everything’s been going wrong.”

“Uh, hi there Emma.” his voice sounded different, harder, more serious.

But Emma overlooked that and continued on, “Everything in Miami is so different. My new step-family sucks. The heat is insane and I don’t understand math at all!”

“Jeez, that’s rough.”

“I know.” she flopped her head onto her pillow, “And my mom’s been acting so weird and my bedroom is way too blue and my soccer team probably thinks I’m a joke.” And I kissed a boy while I was still dating you and it was amazing. She tried to swallow down her guilt as she gushed on about her horrible life.

“Listen, Emma,” Neal eventually cut in, “I need to say something.”

Emma’s eyebrows furrowed, “What is it?”

“I think we should break up.”

She felt like a ton of bricks fell onto her chest, knocking the breath out of her lungs. She grabbed the blanket underneath her and clutched it tightly in her hands, “What?”

“I’m sorry, I really thought that this long distance thing would work out,” Neal explained as Emma took short shallow gasps of air, “but the thing is, it’s harder than I thought.”

She swallowed, “I still think we can work. We’ve had so many great times together. Don’t you want to keep this up until we’re older and I move back to Maine?” her already broken heart after Killian which was holding itself together just for Neal had completely shattered.

“You see…” he started, “I’m seeing someone else now.”

She made a choking noise in the back of her throat, “Who?” she tentatively asked. She knew just about everyone in Storybrooke.

“Ruby.” he told her, “And I’m really happy with her. You and I, Emma, have been together for a while. I think it’s time to branch out and start dating other people.”

Ruby?! Emma shuddered. She and Ruby Lucas weren’t close friends, but she had gone to a few of her birthday parties. Now she was stealing her boyfriend?

“Alright, well I’m going to hang up now.” Neal sighed, “We’ve had some good times and I hope we can still be friends.”

“Wait, Neal I-“ the beep that signaled the end of the call sounded and Emma realized she was alone in a dark room with a tear-stained phone in her shaking hand.

And this time, alone didn’t feel as good as it did before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh! Emma's single now! And who will she want to be with????  
> Thanks for reading- I got the most comments ever on the last chapter and I just want to thank you all for that! And 40+ kudos?!? That's amazing!  
> I hope you guys liked the Captain Swan kissing scene- trust me there's more of that coming ;)  
> Remember to comment, bookmark, leave kudos, and share!  
> Thanks!!!  
> -Sam


	6. A New Brother

The stars shined brightly outside Emma’s bedroom window that night full of promise and light, but she couldn’t see them because she had pulled her blue curtains closed.

It was like time didn’t even have meaning to her anymore. She just stayed there on her bed, thinking, obsessing over what happened. She wished that Neal had never broken up with her while simultaneously wishing that he had broken up with her sooner so her and Killian didn’t have to be messed up.

Her mom must have thought that she was asleep because of the darkness in Emma’s room, so nobody went to check on her. Mary Margaret and David’s room was on the other side of the house, but Emma could hear Will shut his door next to her when he went to bed. That was the only way she could guess what time it was because there was no way she was checking her phone and there was no clock in her new room.

She eventually changed into a pair of shorts and an oversized shirt and tried to go to bed. She wanted to escape the horrible feeling of her breaking heart. She didn’t want to think of the ‘what had been’ and the ‘what could have been’. The foundations of her life were shattering and threatening to topple over her. And fresh out of tears, when Emma slid under her covers and her head hit the pillow, she only stared. It almost seemed that all of this, the stepfamily, the move, the breakup, and the kiss with Killian happened to someone else. But she could still feel inside that everything was true. She could tell from the aching feeling in her chest.

However, as much as she wanted it to, sleep wouldn’t come. Emma kept tossing and turning in her bed, trying to ease her mind, but nothing would work. Her thoughts just kept circling around. She thought about the times she and Neal had together. He was her first love- her first kiss. He was her entire world in Maine and in a way, Emma felt like she was losing her last tie to Storybrooke now that he had broken up with her. And it crushed her that he was now going out with Ruby. Did he not love her enough to keep the long distance relationship going? It crushed her inside.

She also thought about Killian. About how magical and amazing their kiss was and how great he made her feel. But she couldn’t think about those perfect moments without them being tainted by the look that Killian gave her when she told him about Neal. His eyes which had been so bright and full of life had dulled immediately and Emma knew that she had disappointed him. She hadn’t let herself listen to her heart until then, she had her guard up because she knew that she was dating Neal, but now that they were over Killian was very present in her mind. Yet she was aware that the next time she saw him, he wouldn’t be as happy to see her as he was that afternoon.

Eventually, she gave up on the idea of sleep. Her bare feet quietly stepped onto the floor as she slipped out of her bed. Skipping out on her mac and cheese dinner was not boding well for her rumbling stomach. She hoped that eating some food would help her get her mind off her troubles, though she doubted that she could ever feel happy again. There was too much change. Too much for Emma to handle.

She made sure to keep as silent as possible as she tiptoed her way through her bedroom door, heading to the kitchen. As she walked, her legs felt weak and her head felt hollow. She wondered if those were repercussions from her fainting incidents or if it was just because of how upset she was.

Emma was just around the corner from the kitchen when she heard it. A crunch followed by a few more.

She drew back a few steps quickly, alarmed. Who was there? A burglar? A mouse?

Emma was about to just give up and return back to her room, but then a whisper came from the kitchen: “Hello?”

She wasn’t sure whether she should have felt relieved or unhappy to peg the voice as her stepbrother’s. What was he doing up?

Figuring that she was as good as caught if Will had heard her sneaking around, Emma revealed herself. She stepped into the kitchen where she took in the scene of Will Scarlet, with dark circles under his eyes, chomping on a bag of salt and vinegar chips. Emma almost laughed. That boy certainly had a taste for junk food she thought as she remembered how much he wanted his Krispy Kreme donuts when she had first arrived in Miami. He was looking at Emma with a raised eyebrow in his white shirt and boxer sleep shorts.

“You look horrible.” he put simply while leaning against the oven.

Emma was sure that she did. She knew her long blonde hair was snarled from all the twisting and turning in her bed and that her eyes probably looked bloodshot from the crying.

“So, um, what are you doing up?” he pushed.

Emma took a shaky breath to compose herself so her sadness wouldn’t betray her in her speech, “I could ask the same about you.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Will shrugged, popping another chip in his mouth, “Happens a lot. But I asked you first.”

Emma could tell in his voice that there was a different meaning behind his excuse, but that was fine with her if she could lie about her being up so late as well, “Just looking for a snack.” she winced after the words came out, hoping that Will hadn’t heard her voice crack at the end.

“Want some?” her stepbrother thrust the open bag of salt and vinegar chips in front of her.

Her nose wrinkled at the smell that wafted out of the bag, “Yuck.” she gasped, “How can you eat those things?”

“Because they’re delicious.” he said matter of factly, “You don’t like salt and vinegar chips?”

“I actually have never had them before.”

Will looked shocked, “Dude- they are the greatest chips ever! And I’m not saying that because I haven’t gotten a wink of sleep last night, either.” he turned to one of the cabinets and pulled out two large bowls and he dumped half the chips in one and the other half in the other.

Emma took her bowl just because she really was too mentally exhausted to convince her stepbrother that she didn’t want to eat those smelly chips, “No sleep last night either?” she asked, just to keep conversation going. If she left herself to think for too long the thoughts of what happened earlier today would creep back and Emma did not want that.

“Sleep is for losers.” Will declared, “I don’t get much of it.”

She was sort of bothered by his answer, but it made it seem like the subject was not up for discussion so she turned her attention to the chips. She lifted one to her mouth (all while ignoring the foul smell) and was surprised to discover that the chip actually didn’t taste half bad. It was definitely an odd taste, but as Emma ate some more she grew to love them, “These are pretty good.”

“Told you.” Will said as he crunched on his own, “Killian would probably thank you for eating half of those chips- he’s always on my case about eating junk.”

Killian.

That was all that it took for the hasty patchwork dam that Emma had used to hold in all her feelings to burst in one singular moment. Tears were streaming down her face instantly and the bowl of chips threatened to fall as her hands shook. She wasn’t even bothered to be crying in front of her stepbrother because there was just so much going on in her life at that moment and she just didn’t know how to deal with it all.

“Touchy subject I guess,” Will looked completely out of his element, “Didn’t know you were such a health food person.”

Emma sniffled, “It’s not that,” and she didn’t know why she was telling him at all, but she just didn’t think she could talk to her mom- it would break Mary Margaret’s heart to learn of her daughter’s unhappiness- and there was no way she would be going to David for advice. Will had become her therapist out of default for being the only other person in the house, “It’s Killian.”

Her stepbrother looked at her like she was crazy, “What are you talking about? I thought you guys were hitting it off.”

“We were, but…” she tried to wipe away the tears with her fists, but they just kept falling, “It’s just so complicated and it’s all on top of this horrible move and all these changes and-“

She was cut off with the strangest thing. Will had wrapped his arms around her in a hug. It was the first nice thing he had ever done to Emma at all.

“I know how you feel.” he said as they clung to each other, “It sucks. Life can be cruel. I’ve gone through the ringer more than I should’ve at this age, but I promise it will get better.”

When they parted, Emma actually felt like she could tell Will what was going on. He seemed sincere, and for some reason it seemed like he understood what she was feeling like.

“It all started at the wedding…” she started.

Eventually, the step siblings were sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen floor and Emma just poured out her soul. She wasn’t even sure if she had a choice in the matter, she had been holding in all of her feelings for the sake of others. Now she was overflowing and the words just spilled out of her mouth.

She told Will about everything. How she hated moving to Florida, how she wished she didn’t have to start fresh in a new school and get new friends and attend new classes. She didn’t feel right in her new family she was just thrown into. She even described Neal to Will.

“We had been inseparable ever since we started going out in middle school.”

Will had been mostly silent in his listening, which Emma appreciated, but he did interrupt her then: “Wait- you’ve been going out with a boy since middle school? That’s actually insane.”

“I really did love him.” Emma knew she did, “And we were determined to make the long distance relationship work. Although I guess I was the only one who really was invested.”

“What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath, “He broke up with me today.”

Will sighed, “Sorry, dude, that’s rough.”

“In a way, it seems like him breaking up with me broke away the last ties to my normal life back in Storybrooke. It’s kind of like losing him is like losing all the happiness that I had then.” Emma shook her head, 

“Nothing’s ever gone.” Will told her, with real meaning in his voice, “Okay, I don’’t mention this a lot, but my parents died when I was young, but not too young so I can still remember them.” 

Emma didn’t know what to say to something like that. She didn’t know much about Will’s situation. She had no idea how they died or why Will ended up coming into David’s care.

“Anyways, whenever I miss them, I always think about something that we all had then that I still have now. Something that I can use to remember them and stay connected to them.”

“What’s that for you?” she said gently.

“Soccer.” his eyes lit up as he said it, “My mom, she was a pro player. We would play soccer together every morning. Now whenever I play the game, I think of her and it’s like everything’s the same.”

“Wow.” Emma breathed, “You didn’t have to tell me that.”

Will took another chip, “I know. But it seems like you need something to remember Maine by- it helps.”

She searched in her mind, trying to think about what she could use to remember Storybrooke. But she didn’t even want to think about that place now. That happy town where she grew up was being poisoned by thoughts of Neal and how he broke her heart. “How could he do something like that to me?”

She wasn’t exactly looking for an answer, but her stepbrother cleared his throat and said, “Because guys are stupid.”

Emma blinked, “Excuse me?”

“It’s true. Guys can be really stupid sometimes- especially when it comes to girls.” he went on, munching on chips in the meantime, “They don’t know what they have until it’s gone. When they have a girlfriend, they don’t know how much it means. They break up with girls without even thinking twice about what they’re doing and how it would affect the other party. Listen, don’t think it’s you for a second- it’s his fault.”

She was taken aback by Will’s words. She thought she had him all figured out, but then he goes and says something sensitive and completely throws her off her game, “Are you saying you’re like that?”

“Naw.” he chuckled, “There’s a second type of stupidity- that I think I’m pretty guilty of- is really liking a girl, but never getting the nerve to tell her.” a shade of sadness washed over his dark brown eyes.

“Elsa?” Emma guessed.

“Is it that obvious?” he blushed, “She’s just absolutely perfect. Everything about her… I don’t stand a chance.”

She smiled, “I think you should ask her to the Beach Bash.”

Will’s eyes grew wide in alarm, “Are you kidding me? She’d never say yes.”

“I wouldn’t sell yourself short on that…” Emma said meaningfully.

“Do you know something I don’t?”

“I know that Elsa would absolutely 100% say yes to you if you asked her out.” she told him, “But that’s all I’m saying.”

“Should I?”

Emma rolled her eyes. Boys. “Yes. Yes you should. And quick.”

“I don’t know if I’m being completely unreasonable because of lack of sleep, but I think I’ll do it.” Will said, looking hopeful, “Hey and you could go with Killian!”

Her face fell. She was so distracted from talking about Will and Elsa that she forgot her own troubles for a moment, “Yeah, I don’t think that is going to work out.”

“You don’t like him?”

“It’s not that.” after a moment of internal debate, Emma went on to tell Will about the kiss. She felt horrible that she had done it, even when she was dating someone else. But it felt so right between them, Killian couldn’t ignore that kind of thing, right?

“Give him time.” Will told her, “I’ve known Killian for a while and he is never that up front about girls he likes so you must be special. I’m sure he’s just feeling really bad about kissing someone who had a boyfriend.”

“I really hope so.” Emma said, “I just know that what Killian and I have is special, I’m afraid I’ve ruined any chances of us being together, though.”

“You never know.”

It didn’t even seem like two o’ clock in the morning. It didn’t even seem like the two of them barely knew each other. Emma talked to Will like they had been friends for the longest time and in that conversation it seemed like there was no ‘step’ in ‘stepbrother’ and ‘stepsister’. She felt like she was finally seeing Will for the first time since they met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww :) I had a great time writing this chapter. Brother sister friendship are one of my favorite things to write about.
> 
> Thanks you guys for reading the story- I can't believe how many kudos and page views it's been getting. You guys are the absolute best!
> 
> Alright, let me know how you liked the chapter in the comments below and chapter seven will be coming your way soon!
> 
> -Sam


	7. A New Happiness

She didn’t get a single ounce of sleep that night, but she felt better in the morning. Talking to Will had helped. Emma was determined to find Killian and explain to him the situation and how sorry she was. Today was a new day. It wasn’t like she was over Neal- hearing his name still stung like pouring salt in a wound- but she was going to move on.

She tumbled out of bed and put on her uniform, a kaki skirt with the Taylor High School cardigan. Since she had enough time, she straightened her long blonde hair and swiped on some mascara. After she pulled up her blue bed sheets and blanket, she pulled open the curtains. A beautiful scene was outside, and Emma had no idea that it was there before. Palm trees framed on either side a beautiful look at the water outside. Bright green grass, still with morning dew beaded on it, bended and swayed in a light breeze. Emma’s eyes blinked to adjust, but then widened in awe at the brilliant rays of sunshine that touched the entire scene warm from above. It was magnificent. She would have stayed there all day, perched on her bed and leaning on the window pane, but she knew she needed to eat breakfast… and that night she had decided there was something else she needed to do this morning.

Her black sneakers were practically silent on the hardwood floor as Emma walked out of her bedroom and out into the kitchen- she smelled something really good.

“What’s cooking, David?” Emma smiled as she grabbed a plate from the cabinet (she finally figured out where each type of silverware was housed).

David looked a little surprised to see her being so enthusiastic, but he composed himself and equally cheerily replied, “Blueberry pancakes!”

“Yum!” Emma licked her lips as her stepfather slid a warm pancake onto her plate, “These look delicious- thanks.”

“No problem…?”

As Emma munched on the pancakes her mother came out, “Oh Emma, honey, are you feeling any better? I’m so worried.” she confessed as she took a seat next to her and rubbed a hand on her back.

“Mom, really, I’m fine.” Emma told Mary Margaret. She actually meant that statement this time, “It just took me a while to adjust.” she revealed, “And I actually have something I want to say to everyone, but I’m waiting for Will to get up.”

Her mother grinned widely, delighted at her daughter’s change of heart. When Mary Margaret went to join her husband in the kitchen, Emma took out her cell phone and started to text Elsa.

EMMA: Hey :) just wanted to say… I think you’re in for a surprise today.

Elsa quickly texted back.

ELSA: What???

EMMA: Not to ruin the surprise, but I think Will is going to ask you something today ;)

ELSA: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG- thank you so much! This is great! I’m like redoing my hair right now!

Emma smiled, it was nice to see her new friend so happy. Hopefully, if Emma’s plan worked out, she’d be getting a date to the Beach Bash today as well.

Will stumbled out of his bedroom shortly afterwards, rubbing his eyes, but looking a little more rested than he had the night before. Emma grinned at him and her stepbrother nodded- it was like a hidden message between them, telling each other that they were okay. After he piled six pancakes on his plate (that boy could seriously eat!), Will took the seat next to Emma at the dining room table.

“Hey, Emma,” he said, “I just wanted to say thanks for last night.”

Emma raised an eyebrow, “Are you kidding? I should be saying thanks to you. You helped me straighten out my life yesterday.”

“Well, your welcome, then.” he gave her a cocky grin, “I am pretty helpful like that.”

“Oh get over yourself.” Emma pushed his shoulder, but it was all in fun and they laughed together as they each took another bite of pancakes.

“No, but seriously,” Will continued, “Thank you. I actually got sleep last night after we talked.”

Emma gave him a confused look.

Will looked down at his breakfast, “I told you last night that I hadn’t been able to sleep lately and well, it’s because having you and Mary Margaret here is reminding me of what I used to have with my real family.”

“Oh.” Emma wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“My parents and I were on a boat when I was seven.” her stepbrother told her, “There was this freak storm and we were all thrown off. Help came quickly, but not quick enough for my mom and dad.”

“Will, that’s awful.” she always wondered about what happened to Will’s birth parents, but she never expected that it would be something so upsetting.

“I was so messed up afterwards.” he confessed, “I was terrified of the water. I wouldn’t even touch it. And I physically couldn’t sleep… that part sort of came back when you Swans moved in. But talking about my parents last night helped a lot for me. So that’s why I wanted to thank you.”

Emma smiled, “Aww, Will.” she wrapped her arms around her stepbrother who in turn seemed surprised at the gesture, but hugged back.

“This is great to see you two getting along!”

The step siblings turned to see their parents, holding hands, behind them. Mary Margaret looked like she was going to cry. David, who was the one who had talked, looked proud.

“Good- everybody’s here.” Emma commented as she stood up. She gestured for Mary Margaret and David to take seats at the table. Once they did she continued, “I have something to say.”

Will looked at her quizzically, “We actually don’t have that much time before we get to school…” he warned.

“Trust me, this will be fast.” she insisted.

“Alright, honey,” her mom smiled encouragingly, “What is it?”

Emma took a deep breath, steadying herself, readying herself, “When I heard that my mom was engaged to you, David, I was upset.”

“Emma!?”

“Please, Mom,” the blonde continued, “Let me finish. I felt like I was going through a really tough time. I didn’t want to move all the way to Florida. I didn’t want my nice family to change completely. I was convinced, from the moment that the wedding ended, that my perfect life was officially over. I could wave goodbye to my amazing boyfriend, my awesome friends, and kick-butt soccer team.”

Mary Margaret looked pained, “Oh, honey, I had no idea.”

“It’s okay, mom.” she said honestly, “I don’t know why but I felt like I couldn’t say anything about how bad I felt about the move and the stepdad and the stepbrother because you were just so happy about everything. I couldn’t ruin this amazing thing for you. Now I realize that I was wrong and it would have helped me to talk to you about all this, and I’m sorry that I kept you in the dark.”

Her mother nodded, eyes glistening. David seemed uncomfortable and Will just kept checking his phone for the time so they wouldn’t be late. Emma smiled at that and continued, “It all got so much worse when I got a text that Neal broke up with me. I plunged deeper into this downward spiral that I was creating myself. I invented the idea in my head that absolutely nothing good could happen in Miami with my stepfamily- it meant that I pushed away some really good opportunities that I wish that I could take back.” Emma closed her eyes for a second as she remembered the broken expression on Killian’s face, 

“But someone was able to show me how wrong I was.” she nudged Will playfully on his shoulder and he chuckled in response, “I was actually so lucky to have a family that loves me because I know how easy something like that can be lost. Having a few extra people in a family doesn’t make anything less than it used to be, it only leaves room for more. More love, more jokes, more adventures.” she paused and looked to David, “I’m sorry I’ve been a sort of jerk lately. I just thought that being happy in this new situation meant that I was betraying my old life back in Maine.”

“Oh, honey!” Mary Margaret exclaimed at the end as she got up and wrapped her daughter in a tight hug, “I’m so sorry that-“

“No, mom,” Emma said honestly as she hugged back, “You don’t need to be sorry. I think that this new life is going to be great.”

Will coughed, “Not to be rude, but it’s time for us to go to school.”

“Right.” David nodded.

“Killian is waiting for us outside.” Emma’s stepbrother tilted his head to the window. Through the clear glass, Emma could see Killian Jones leaning on the side of the Jolly Roger, which was parked in front of the family’s driveway.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” Emma said to her mother and David, “I think that it would be nice if we all went on that family dinner thing that we had planned earlier. There’s one more thing I have to do.”

With that, Emma hoisted up her backpack and followed Will out the front door, but the second she stepped outside- she stopped in her tracks. Killian looked angry still, even from a distance. She had been so sure of herself, so ready to tell Killian exactly how she felt and how sorry she was. Now she had no idea what to do and her plan disappeared.

“C’mon, you’ve got to talk to him sometime.” Will said under his breath.

Emma swallowed and tried to gather up all her courage, which was as hard as herding cats. Because at that moment when she saw Killian, she didn’t have to guard her feelings because of Neal. Her boyfriend from Maine was history now and Emma was ready to start up a new relationship with someone she really liked.

She picked up her feet and started on to Killian’s beloved car, but especially the boy wearing a frown who was standing next to it. Will hopped in right away, but Emma stood a few feet away in the grass of her front yard, “Killian,” she said, her voice raw, “Can I talk to you?”

As Killian drew closer, Emma was overwhelmed with butterflies in her stomach and she could feel her heart beat pulsing in her wrist. He looked as cute as ever with his choppy black hair and his thin pink lips. But she could tell that he was still upset about last night. His intense blue eyes which would practically glow whenever Emma saw him seemed to dull down to a murky color like the sea at storm. It broke Emma’s heart that she had hurt him. And now she wanted to fix that rift between them.

“Hey.” she started off, speaking through a breath.

“Hi.” Killian shoved his hands in the pockets of his uniform kaki pants.

Emma closed her eyes for a second to calm down the nerves and when she opened them she knew exactly what to do.

She reached forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, swiftly closing the distance between them with two big steps forward. She found his lips and started kissing Killian like her life depended on it. His body became rigid with surprise at first, but he almost immediately loosened up and kissed her back. And it was absolutely perfect, just like the first time they kissed. It was like Killian was made to be with her and she was made for Killian.

Although, Killian quickly pulled away and walked three steps backwards, “Emma? What are you doing?” it shattered her to see the sadness in his eyes, “I think we both know my feelings, but you make it clear that you obviously don’t want a relationship and I can respect that. But then you go around like there’s nothing even wrong at all and you kiss me and it’s great, but it just on another level feels so completely wrong because you are going out with someone else!”

As he took a breath, Emma quickly interjected, “Actually now there is nothing wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Killian asked slowly, raising his eyebrow.

“Neal broke up with me last night.” she told him, “And so I am currently single.”

“Are you now?”

She nodded once, “Although I really don’t want to be single for too long, because there’s this special guy that I recently met. He’s super nice, beast at soccer, and he’s very smart. But of course if you ask me,” Emma teased, “I’m only in it for his awesome car.”

It felt like she was taking a breath of fresh air as Killian’s grimace transformed into a smile as she talked.

“And I was wondering, if you weren’t already going with anyone,” Emma walked forward again to re-close their distance apart and she took his hand, “If you could do me the honor of attending the Beach Bash with me?”

“Yes.” he playfully squeezed their interlocked hands, “Absolutely yes.”

They were just about to go in for another kiss when a sharp beep-beep from the Jolly Roger’s horn jolted them apart, “Alright you lovebirds,” Will Scarlet rolled his eyes, his hand still reached across to the driver’s seat from when he honked the horn, “Let’s get this show on the road, okay? There are other people who want dates to the Beach Bash too.”

Emma and Killian laughed as they started making their way over to the car, “We’re okay, right?” she asked, looking up at her tall companion.

A wide grin spread across Killian’s face, “Of course we are, love.”

***

When the group got to school it only took a few seconds to track Elsa down, but it took a few minutes to push Will up to her to finally ask her to the Beach Bash. Emma and Killian couldn’t really hear their conversation from their hiding space behind a group of plants, but Emma silently cheered for their stepbrother and her new best friend when she saw Elsa nod her head and give Will a tight hug.

“It’s so funny,” Killian remarked as they watched the happy scene, “Will’s liked Elsa for a long time. I’ve tried to get him to ask her out so many times, yet all it takes is less than a week with you and you get him to conquer his fear and finally do it.”

Emma quietly laughed, “Oh please, Killian. It’s not my doing.”

“Actually, I think it is.” he continued, “I think that you’ve filled a missing hole in Miami. Elsa always needed a girl best friend to talk about boys and makeup-“

“-Do you really think that’s all a girl talks about?”

“No, but I mean there are things she couldn’t talk about with me and Will because we had no idea how to.” Killian said, “And then there’s Will, who I think really needed a sister. I think that you’ve heard about what happened to his birth parents.”

“Yeah, I have.” Emma’s head drooped a bit at the mention of the sad truth.

“He needed someone who he felt like he could talk to about that who still lives in his house. Someone who could listen.” Killian described, “David’s cool, but Will never wanted to talk to him about that kind of stuff at all because he really is grateful that he took him in.”

The compliments made Emma fell kind of like she was glowing. She never had realized that she had such an impact on these people’s lives, just like how they had made an impact in her own.

“And then there’s me.” Killian put an arm around her shoulder, “And you filled in a hole in my own heart. And you’ve created a light in the darkness.”

“Aw, Killian.” Emma playfully punched him in the shoulder, “That’s so cheesy.”

Killian licked his lips, “Sometimes the cheesiest things said are the truest ones.”

It was just then that Elsa and Will came over to them. Elsa looked like she was going to squeal or something and Will looked happier than Emma had ever seen. It made Emma feel like there was a reason she moved to Miami and for the first time she felt truly at peace about her removal from Storybrooke to this hot, Florida city. With her friends and family laughing around her Emma didn’t feel like the outsider or the newbie anymore. She felt like she finally belonged.

“This is perfect.” she said aloud as the group of four started walking to their first class.

Will and Elsa nodded in agreement, but Killian shook his head. 

“Actually, I disagree.” he told her as he took her hand, “If you want perfect- just wait for the Beach Bash.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for being patient with me on this slow update. This week was crazy busy and packed with so much to do. I started school this week and I got my license too! (I can drive now all by myself!!!! *touchdown dance*)
> 
> Haha :) anyways I just wanted to say that writing this story has been such a treat because I've gotten such positive reviews from all of my readers and I just want to say thank you all for that.
> 
> I'm thinking an epilogue chapter right after this about the Beach Bash and then A New Life will be over :'(
> 
> BUT IT IS OKAY BECAUSE I HAVE AN AWESOME NEW FANFIC FOR CAPTAIN SWAN ALREADY PLANNED!!! And I can't wait to start it!
> 
> Please comment, leave kudos, bookmark, and share- you guys mean the world to me!
> 
> Thank you!  
> -Sam


	8. A New Problem

The sound of the doorbell ringing perked Emma out of her worried haze. She had been sitting, slouched at the desk in her room waiting for what felt like hours, but was really about twenty minutes.

Bolting out of her chair, she rushed out of her bedroom, swinging down the short hallway, and through the dining room. Her socks helped her slide on the hardwood floor before the front door, opening it quickly to reveal her beautiful friend, Elsa, outside.

“Hey,” she smiled easily, “I came as quick as I could, but I had something crazy to deal with. You’d never believe how long it would take to get frosting out of someone’s hair. Anna has been going on this baking kick and she’s not that-“

“Okay, that’s great!” Emma pulled her into the house, shutting the door behind the pair, “Now I need your help.”

This time however, when Emma tried to go back to her bedroom she was stopped halfway past the dinner table.

“Hey, Elsa! I didn’t know you were coming.” Emma’s stepbrother grinned, making his way around the kitchen island, no doubt coming back from a snack of ice cream or some other form of junk. Will closed the distance between him and Elsa, holding out his iPhone, “You’d never believe it, I found another pirated episode of Spin It To Win It on YouTube!”

“No way!” Elsa grinned, already distracted.

Emma resisted the urge to groan. Sure Elsa and Will were perfect together, and they even loved the same weird foreign game shows together, but with Will and herself living in the same house, it was sometimes next to impossible for Emma and Elsa to get something done together without him tagging along. Emma loved her brother, she really did, and she liked how he was dating her best friend, she really did, but there were times like these that made Emma just want to kick him across the field like a soccer ball. 

She would settle for shoving him instead.

Will stumbled backward a few staggering steps before he caught himself on the kitchen counter, instantly exclaiming, “What was that for!?” over the sound of Emma and Elsa’s laughs.

“Sorry, Will, but I am reserving Elsa for the next hour or so, then you can go make out or whatever.” Emma found great pleasure in seeing their faces burn bright red at that last comment.

“Fine. Be that way.” Will grumbled as he retreated to the living room to turn on the TV.

With that, Emma brought Elsa to her room, holding up two bathing suits in front of her on hangers, a blue and white striped one with a bow in the front and a purple and green aztec printed one, “Which one should I wear?” she asked, turning away from the bedroom mirror to face Elsa.

“Seriously Emma? They both would look great on you.” Elsa insisted, “And it’s not healthy to be obsessing over such a meaningless choice.”

And Emma knew that, but she also knew that what she wore would be factored into how well today would go. The Beach Bash. Something she and Killian had looked forward to, but that morning Emma woke up feeling like everything was wrong. 

“I don’t know, Elsa.” Emma looked at the carpet below her, “I have this weird feeling about today…”

Elsa rolled her eyes, “You’re being overdramatic.”

“I just want this day to be perfect.” Emma said, determined, “But seriously, which bikini?”

Elsa sighed, “Emma, I can’t make that decision for you. You choose.”

“Elsa!”

“Nope.”

“Humph.” Emma took one last glance at both sets of bathing suits, “Fine. I think I’m going to go with the aztec printed one.”

Elsa flopped on her friend’s blue bed with her hands in the air shouting, “Finally!”

After Emma changed she had Elsa weave her hair into a fishtail braid and then the pair grabbed their beach bags and headed out of the bedroom. Will was waiting for them in the kitchen, chomping on vanilla Oreos (yet another unhealthy snack) and wearing forrest green colored swim trunks, “Wow, you look great.” he smiled at Elsa as he stood up from his chair. She had changed into an icy blue bikini that complimented her eyes.

Since Will asked Elsa to the Beach Bash, they had gone on a few dates (one of them being a double date with Emma and Killian too) and were inseparable. Emma really believed that they were a match made in heaven. The two of them had so many similarities and enough differences to keep things entertaining between them.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Elsa grinned as she walked to her boyfriend’s side and they gave each other a quick kiss.

“Killian’s waiting outside with the Jolly Roger.” Will told the group, “You guys ready?”

Emma nodded as she picked up her gold-rimmed sunglasses from the countertop. She couldn’t wait for today.

Ever since Killian and her got together, everything had been falling into place. The entire school week went flawlessly ending with an awesome Friday night soccer game where Emma kicked the winning shot (this time not passing out either, which was a plus). It was Killian who cheered the loudest from his space in the stands, but David was in the competition as well. 

And now that Emma and Elsa had brought their team to victory, they would be competing in a huge nationwide competition that would be hosted at Taylor High School. The girls were so excited and teams from all over would be pouring in.

In the time since she had moved here, Emma had finally stopped referring to Maine as her home. She was happy and developing a new routine, a new “normal”. She and Elsa had gone shopping a whole lot and joined student council together. Emma and Will played soccer together every afternoon.

And she and Killian? They were pretty much inseparable.

Everything was going so well that Emma, who was used to her crazy roller coaster life taking full flips at unexpected times, had little faith that her luck would continue. But she pushed the thought out of her mind and followed Will and Elsa out the door with her things.

Killian was leaning on his car, which was parked at the end of the driveway and the second she saw him, Emma took off like she was running down a soccer field into his arms. “Hey.” she smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Hi, Swan.” he chuckled, “Are we all ready to go?”

They were. Elsa and Will sat in the back of the Jolly Roger while Killian took his place in the driver’s seat and Emma got shotgun. On the ride to the beach, everyone sang along to the radio and laughed with each other. Emma couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so happy and carefree. She wasn’t sure if she ever had.

But the day just got better.

The beach was beautiful. Emma took her first step onto the clay-colored sand holding Killian’s hand. The waves peaked and fell and the sunlight scattered of the water’s surface like sparkles. It occurred to Emma that there was a time that she would have had no interest going to a beach in Florida. She never would’ve known it was so blissful if she had never opened herself up to new experiences. 

Actually, she could’ve said the same about this entire move in general.

Looking ahead, Emma could see practically everyone in her school wearing their bathing suits and having fun under the sun. There were booths everywhere and even a band playing on a small stage. Teachers were even set up at a station where students could throw pies at their faces. Elsa had told her that this event always made a bunch of money for the school, and from the looks of it, Emma totally believed it.

“Alright, let’s party!” Killian laughed, holding Emma’s hand tight, “We can go swimming and play beach volleyball, and-“

“Not so fast, lover-boy.” Elsa raised a perfect eyebrow, all business, “Emma and I are on student council now. We’re scheduled to help out with the concessions table for the next two hours.”

Will smirked, “Shoot. I was hoping Emma was at that booth where you throw pies at people.”

“Hey!” Emma playfully punched him.

“We’ll see you later, okay?” Elsa was already a few steps ahead of the group as she made her way down the beach.

Giving her boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek, Emma hustled to follow her friend.

Emma still wasn’t completely used to the radiating Florida heat, so she was happy that the concessions stand was under a canopy to shade her. Over the next hour, she kept busy selling hotdogs, popcorn, ice cream, and candy. The boys at first had made their way over the the boys’ soccer team where everyone was excitedly talking about the big competition, but they soon joined Emma and Elsa to tell them some news.

“Some of the other teams are coming in today!” Emma had never seen Killian this excited. She knew that he and Will had dreamed of getting Taylor High School to the High School Mid-Season Soccer Conference for years.

Elsa perked up from where she was handing a little boy a package of Twix, “Really? Wow, this is so surreal. I can’t believe both the girl and boy teams made it.” Elsa turned to Emma at that, “There is no way that we would’ve gotten to such a prestigious competition without you, Emma. Thank goodness you moved from Loserbrooke.”

“Storybrooke.” Emma half-heartedly corrected.

“Actually, Emma,” Will started, “I hear that there’s a team coming in all the way from Maine, maybe you’ll know them.”

Emma shrugged, “I doubt it. I basically just stayed in my small town. I really didn’t have any friends we weren’t from Storybrooke.”

The four high schoolers stayed there for a while, talking about each other’s game strategies and how they were going to kick some serious butt down there on the field.

That’s when it happened.

A familiar voice interrupted the chatter to say, “Is there any way to get a guy an ice cream sandwich around here?”

“Yeah, one secon-“ Emma stopped in her speech as she swiveled around in her chair to see the customer. It was then that she knew that she was right in thinking that this all was too good to be true.

She took in the brown curly hair, the slight smirk, and dark mischievous eyes and was reminded why she fell for him all those years ago.

Her mouth parted open in shock as she looked at the guy she told herself she would never see again.

“Hello, Emma,” he smirked, “wondered if I’d be seeing you here.”

Emma wasn’t proud of it, but all she could think to say to him was “Uh, um… hi.”

“Well are you going to introduce me to your friends here?” he winked, turning to Elsa, Will, and Killian who were all blankly staring at the customer in front of them.

Looking back, Emma could’ve just said “go away” or “I don’t want to talk to you anymore”, but there was something so familiar, so comfortable about him that for the time being, Emma forgot how mad she was at him.

“Uh, Will, Elsa, Killian,” she hesitated for a second, prompting the customer to sarcastically tap his finger on his wrist as an ‘any day now’ mime, “this is Neal Gold.”

The upbeat pop song playing from the band did not fit the situation.

“What?” Killian practically growled.

Neal chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender, “Whoa, easy there partner.”

“Neal, what are you doing here?” Emma asked tentatively, deflecting the situation between her boyfriend and her ex.

“Oh, actually I’m here to compete in the soccer conference.” he said, “You won’t believe what an awesome season Storybrooke had after you left, kid.” he eyed Emma.

“Well, if that’s all you’re here for,” Will interjected, “then I suggest you get a move on and we’ll see you on the soccer field- you’re holding up the line.” Elsa already had the ice cream sandwich outstretched towards the visiter.

“Wait a second,” Neal paused. Emma always knew that Neal was all about the theatrics. Killian took a small step forward and then Neal finished with words that made him stop in his tracks, “I’m also here to get my amazing girlfriend back.”

Will looked like he was ready to start a fight. Elsa was judging Neal with one of her famous icy glares. But Killian stayed where he was, the only thing changing was the hurt that Emma saw creep into his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY COW!!!!
> 
> Jeez guys, I'm so sorry about the 200+ day wait. For some reason I had total writers block on how to continue, but now I'm back in the game and I've got new momentum.
> 
> How is everyone? Thank you all so much for standing by my story even when it's been such a long time.
> 
> Please review, leave kudos, bookmark, and share. You're support on this story encourages me to write more!
> 
> Thanks for being the best readers ever!  
> -Sam

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is a short introduction- the real chapters will be longer.
> 
> Please comment, bookmark, share, and leave kudos! I really appreciate any feedback. You guys are the best!
> 
> -Sam


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